She's gone
by Sam-453
Summary: COMPLETEWhat if things has gone differently near the end of 'prophecy girl? NEW CHAPTER 3
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. Some text taken from 'Prophecy girl'

Time frame: During 'Prophecy girl'. (end of S1)

Note: This is a bit of an experiment, so please review, and tell me what you think, so that I can decide whether or not to continue it.

            "She's gone." Xander exclaimed, as if the meaning should be perfectly clear.

            "Whadaya mean?" Angel frowned.

            "Buffy, she's gone to fight the master."

            "He'll kill her." Angel gasped.

            "Rumour has it." Xander nodded, "Only we're not gonna let that happen."

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            Angel rushed to the fallen slayer's side, and flipped her over, desperately feeling for a pulse, checking for breath.

            "She's dead!" he breathed.

            "No!" Xander yelled, joining him at her side, "She drowned, so there's a shot, CPR." Angel looked down at his love, then nodded,

            "You have to do it. I have no breath." He passed the girls limp form to her friend. He laid her on the rocky ground and began the procedure. In any other situation, his heart would be leaping at the chance to lock lips with Buffy.

            "Come on, Buffy!" he said between breaths. He tried desperately to breath life into the small girl's body, but to no avail. Minutes later, she was still utterly still, deathly silent. "No!" Xander wailed, trying again and again, until Angel pulled him away, his eyes wide,

            "She's gone. Xander, she's gone." Xander struggled against him,

            "No! There's still time!" But in truth he knew the vampire to be right. He sobbed, "Oh god, she's gone!" Angel released his hold on the boy, his mind finally clearing.

            "Get her out of here. Take her home."

            "What are you gonna do?" Xander asked.

            "I'm gonna make that son-of-a-bitch wish he was never sired." He snarled, before running faster than anyone Xander had ever seen towards the tunnel exit.

Atop the library, the Master surveyed the scene below, where a group of mere humans battled fruitlessly against the guardians of the hell mouth. He ranted loudly about 'his world' claiming everything in sight as his kingdom. He turned to a savage growl behind him,

"It's not yours quite yet!" 

The Master laughed,

"Angel! Come to join me on my night of triumph?" He called, motioning to everything around him.

"Guess again, bone head." Angel smiled, and launched himself at his former mentor. Unaffected by the Master's mind control, Angel fought savagely, no thought on his mind other than hurting this age-old vampire. He pummelled the master, screaming, "You killed her, you piece of shit!" unaware of the chosen words until he spoke them. The master laughed,

"Angelus- the scourge of Europe! Tamed by a petite, blonde, slayer!" He spat the last like it was poison. Angel glanced down through the skylight, then rolled to come up directly in front of the master.

"The name is Angel!" He hissed, before snap-kicking the master in the chest, sending him flying through the glass roof to be impaled upon a broken shard of wood. Angel dropped down after him as the flesh melted from his bones and the hell mouth closed once more. "Destroy the body." He said to Giles, as he, Jenny, Willow and Cordy brushed themselves off.

"Ah, yes, we can bury it in consecrated ground…" Giles began.

"Destroy it!" Angel bellowed before striding out, throwing their barricades aside as he went. The telephone rang, seeming ridiculously loud in the post non-apocalyptic silence. Willow answered it automatically, and listened to who ever was on the other end, but she could not speak. She replaced the receiver, her eyes wide and vacant.

"Willow?" Giles asked. She looked up at him, tears welling in her eyes,

"It's Buffy…" she gasped, "She's daed."

At the Summers home, the small group gathered around the still form of the slayer, whose body seemed somehow smaller than it had in life. Joyce was sobbing hystericall, and it took quite a while for Jenny to convince her to go to bed. She led her away, and Giles collapsed at the side of his breathless charge.

"I failed you." He gasped. "How…?" he turned to Xander. Now even Cordelia shed a tear as Xander explained how Buffy had died. After that there was just silence. They could do no more than look on in sorrow.

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Ignoring council orders, Giles stayed in Sunnydale, knowing that slayer or no, that was where he needed to be. The Scooby gang stuck together, accepting Cordy into the group, as well as Jenny Calendar. Angel disappaeared for a while, but he eventually returned to Sunnydale, to take up the mantle he had been unable to help Buffy bear. 

The Slayer was gone. But that only made it more clear to the small group that Sunnydale needed fighters, someone to hold off the darkness most people didn't even know was there. So in the wake of Buffy's death, they resolved to fight in her name. 


	2. No Buffy

Note: Sorry it took so long to get this up, like I've said before, I need inspiration, and to be in the right mood. I'll try to update soon. Chapter 2 

            Angel walked through the south cemetery, all senses attuned to everything around him, just waiting for a vamp to try something. He smiled grimly as three vampires leapt out of a hedge ahead of him. He staked one of them before they even realised who he was, and the others attempted to tackle him. Angel vamped out and fought hard, loving the release. Half way through the fight, a girl appeared from nowhere, knocking a vamp to the ground. She staked him quickly, about the same time that Angel finished off the other. About to ask who she was, Angel was shocked when she then jumped at him. She hit him hard in the face, and he stumbled backwards,

            "Hey!!" he cried. She said nothing, but continued to attack him. Angel, very confused by this point, just deflected the blows, trying to tell her to stop. "You have the wrong idea!! ...just stop and talk… to… me!!"

            "No chance, vumpire." She hissed in a Caribbean lilt.

            "You… got…it… wrong!! He yelled between blows. The girl pulled back, and hit him with a snap kick to the stomach that even Angel couldn't block. She leapt on top of him as he fell back, stake raised. "Who the hell are you?" Angel gasped.

            "Ay'm Kendra, di Vumpire Slayah." She proclaimed, before someone collided with her, throwing her to the ground beyond Angel. The slayer kicked her attacker off, who recovered quickly, and dropped into a fighting stance. The slayer frowned, "Keep outta dis, gel. You don't know what you're dealin' wit'."

            "I damn well do! Angel is my friend, and a good guy!! If you're really a slayer, you should be able to tell!" The slayer shook her head, this girl must be one of those vampire worshipping idiots her watcher had told her about. She swung with her right. The girl dodged backwards, grabbing the slayer's arm to throw her off balance. "Listen!" she yelled. Kendra growled; she was getting pissed off. She jumped up again, facing the girl. She was preparing to attack once more, when she stopped dead as she had one of the weirdest experiences of her already odd life.

            [Listen to us. I know it's hard to take, but Angel _is_ a good guy. Just look in his eyes, he has a soul.] Kendra swallowed. The girl was speaking, but her lips didn't move, and the vampire, who was now hanging back, didn't show any sign of hearing her. The slayer was terrified. She'd heard of mind control and magicks, of course, but she had never experienced it. Part of her was insisting that the girl, who must be a witch, was trying to control her mind, but another part, the essence of her humanity, knew this was not true. The girl was telling the truth, however ridiculous it sounded.

            "How?" she breathed, not dropping her fists.

            "Very long story." The girl replied. She relaxed out of the fighting stance, and glanced at Angel, "You ok?"

            "Yeah." He answered simply.

            "How can a vumpire have a soul?"

            "I was cursed with it by gypsies over a hundred years ago."

            "Cursed? Angel… not Angelus?" She looked shocked,

            "Used to be. Until I got my soul back." The slayer shook her head,

            "It ain't possible."

            "Look, can we take this inside. If you're really a slayer…"

            "Ay am. _Di_ slayer."

            "Yeah. Well, you should talk to Giles."

            "Who is dis Giles?"

            "He's a watcher." The girl said. The slayer sensed a twinge of sorrow in the girls voice as she said this. Kendra thought for a moment, why would a watcher be here without a slayer?

            "Are ya a potential slayah?" she asked. The girl laughed,

            "No way. Just a girl livin' on the hellmouth." She replied, heading to the edge of the cemetery. Angel glanced at the slayer, then followed. Kendra remained for a moment, her fists still raised. She considered the situation, then sighed, relaxed, and hurried after them.

            "You're the slayer?" Giles exclaimed. Kendra, head down respectfully, nodded,

            "Ay am sir." Giles took off his glasses and began cleaning them,

            "Interesting…" he said thoughtfully. "And your watcher sent you to Sunnydale because…?"

            "Dere is dark power risin' in dis town, sir."

            "Yes, yes." Giles said, "There usually is."

He was about to continue when four more people entered the room.

            "West cemetery is secure as its gonna be." Said a woman with shortish dark hair. She was holding a stake, and smiled at Giles before even acknowledging the presence of anyone else.

            "Who's the new girl?" asked the girl just behind her, who laid a small, intricately decorated, ancient looking axe on the counter. The two guys behind them echoed her and took their places round the table. Kendra had leapt to her feet, fists raised.

            "Who are dese people?" She demanded.

            "They're friends, Kendra. Relax." Giles told her.

            "Ok… care to explain Miss. Drama queen?" The axe-wielding girl asked.

            "She's the new slayer." Willow told her. "Me an' Angel bumped into her on patrol.

            "Ay don't understand. Dese people know about vumpires too?" Kendra said, dropping the fighting stance, but frowning.

            "Yes." Giles replied. "They all knew the last slayer. She was stationed in this town."

            "But the slayah's identity is meant to be a secrat."

            "Yeah, well, we found out, and we helped her." Willow snapped defensively.

            "She died, didn't she?" Kendra snapped back. Xander and Oz grabbed Willows arms to hold her back as she lunged at the slayer. Cordelia let out a frustrated breath.

            "I'm headin' out again." She said, unable to take any more. She stood, "Anyone comin'?"

Xander looked around.

            "This 'dark power' is gonna involve research, isn't it?"

            "Of course." Giles replied, not seeing the relevance.

            "Then I'm with ya Cor'." He said, grabbing Jenni's discarded stake and Joining Cordy as she retrieved her axe and gave it an expert twirl. Willow, Angel and Oz followed, and the group left, chatting like any other group of friends.

            "Dey fight well." Kendra said. It was a statement, not a question, but it was doubtful.

            "Yes. They've had practice."

            "But dey're just normal people. That girl I fought… she caught me by surprise, took me down… and she did… something…"

            "Don't worry about it. Willow has picked up fighting very quickly. And while patrolling, it is imperative to be silent, she's learnt that from experience too. As for the 'something' I presume you mean…"

            "She spoke in may head."

            "Yes. Willow is rather …connected. After Buffy, she began dabbling in macgicks… turns out shes rather good at it- and powerful enough to control it."

            "But still…"

            "They were very close to Buffy. Every one of them knows the true dangers they face. Willow took Buffy's death especially hard. It may sound cruel, but her grief has given her the strength she now possesses."

            "But she's lookin' for revenge."

            "At first, yes she was. Now, she just does what she can. They all do."


	3. Fighting

I know its been a long time since I updated this, and to be truthful, I had pretty much forgotten about it. So I've finished it up- I know it might not be quite what you guys were hoping for, and I'm sorry for that. But it's an ending, which is better than nothing, right?

Chapter 3 

The next evening, Willow hung around the entrance to the park, waiting for Angel. He didn't show. Willow immediately knew something was very wrong- Angel had never missed patrol. She headed to his apartment, but he wasn't in. She phoned all the others, but they hadn't seen him, so she headed for one other source.

            "We're closed." The bar man snapped. "Can't you read?"

            "I can read real good, actually Willy." Willow drawled. The barman swallowed.

            "Oh, Willow… I didn't realise it was you. What can I do ya for?"

            "What d'ya think? Info." She walked further in as Willy hurried round behind the counter, busying himself with cleaning.

            "Ooh, I got outta that game a long time ago."

Willow cocked her head to one side.

            "Uh-huh, and I'm the goddess Isis." 

            "Look… what do you want to know?"

            "Good boy. Where's Angel?"

            "My buddy Angel? I dunno." 

Willow rolled her eyes,

            "Don't make me hit you."

            "I swear I don't know!" 

Willow hit him. Then someone grabbed her from behind. Willow spun, prepared to fight the attacker, but they both froze on seeing each other's face.

            "Kendra!"

            "Willow… what are ya doin' here?"

            "I was gonna ask you the same question! I'm looking for Angel."

            "Dis is a demon bar- Ay can smell it."

            "Well duh. Willy was about to tell me what happened to Angel."

            "What d'ya mean?"

            "Angel has disappeared." Willow turned away from the slayer, to where Willy was rubbing his bruise face. She raised her eye brows and her fist.

            "Ok, ok. There's some big shot vamp in town- far as I know, he's got Angel."

            "Where?"

            "… there's an old church…"

            "Show us." Willow snapped. Willy groaned, but didn't dare to refuse.

Angel and Dru were both strapped to a thick chain hanging from the ceiling, Angels hand also strapped up above them. As Willow, Kendra and the others they had called crept through the halls of the church, they spotted the row of vampires guarding the door. They had sent Willy away when they got there, and now they al drew weapons, and advanced. Suddenly Willow stuck out a hand, and shook her head,

            "If we rush right in like this, they can just block us out, bolt the door… we wont save Angel… we have to draw some of them away first." She whispered. Kendra nodded,

            "I conquer. But I still don't get your obsession with saving de vumpire."

The four vampires standing at the entrance to the church, before the closed door, looking around in boredom. Suddenly, a red head appeared round the corner, supported only by the wall, her eyes desperate,

"No, help me…" She moaned, before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed on the floor. The vamps looked at each other, and stepped cautiously forwards. One prodded her with a foot, but she didn't move, so they grinned,

"Dinner." One said gleefully. They surrounded the redhead, and in moments were surrounded them selves by a bunch of teenagers.

"Not tonight." Said their apparent meal, her head snapping up as her hand produced a stake. The others attacked, and in seconds there were no more guards. Willow stood up and stretched, "That was way to easy. Buffy woulda been appalled."

"She'd have been quipping right about now." Cordy agreed. The small force now burst through the church door, and fanned out. The rest of the vampires, except Dru and Spike of course, headed for them, and the fight began. Willow was constantly aware of the ritual taking place at the altar, and as soon as she could, she went for Spike. 

"Stupid little bint!" Spike cried, beating her off with ease. She tripped backwards down the steps, looking up at him with an expression full of more anger than fear that to be truthful scared him a little. In his moments hesitation, a foot impacted the side of his head, and he crumpled. Kendra helped Willow up, before staking the blonde vampire. Willow spat on the ashes. Drusilla was still tied up, and Kendra dusted her no problem. Willow untied Angel, and supported him down the steps as the others finished the few remaining vamps.

            "Shows over." Cordy said, looking around.

            "Lets go home." Xander agreed.

            Willow sat on her little balcony in baby blue pyjamas, looking out over the dark town. It had been so long since she had been truly happy, so long since she had allowed herself to feel sadness, for she knew that her strength came from fury and loss, not some given power like the slayers. She feared that if she let her outer walls fall, she would be helpless, and she would lose the strength to fight in Buffy's place. She would fail her dead friend. Now a tear trickled down her cheek, as she watched the indifferent masses of SunnyDale. Few ventured out at this hour, but she knew that even less had the slightest clue what went on in their town, or how often strangers risked their lives to save the whole. Willow wiped away the tear, and swung her legs back over, closing the balcony door as she walked back to her bed and switched off the light. She lay there for a time she could not measure, and when she thought she had only just drifted off, she once again sat bolt upright. The room was dark, but a breeze told her the door was open again. The curtains billow in the light wind, and Willow squinted towards them. There was a silhouette in the doorway, short, slim, and… as the moon is silhouetted in an eclipse, there seemed to be a corona about the figure. It stepped into the room, still sheathed in darkness, but with that bizarre glow.

            "Who are you!?" Willow snapped, "What do you want?" Even then she was feeling beneath her pillow for the stake she always kept there. The figure kept moving, closer and closer, and as it reached her, Willow thrust with the stake. The figure caught her hand, gently, but with enough force to stop the blow. Willow's skin tingled where it touched, cold but warm at the same time. Willow's eyes were slowly adjusting to the light, and she saw the figure smile softly, and heard a faint,

            "Sssh." As it sat on her bed. Willow found her throat closing up, unable to speak as she gazed at the person sitting on her bed- the person who _couldn't_ be sitting on her bed. "Ssh." It said again, reaching out with a hand to stroke Willow's hair, "Calm down. I wont hurt you."

            "But… Buffy?" She croaked, tears threatening again. The figure nodded with a wry smile,

            "Wiggy, huh?"

Willow choked a laugh.

            "How?"

            "Honestly, I really don't know. I can't stay for long… I just… I sorta heard you, calling… an' I came."

            "I miss you."

            "I know. I miss you too… but you guys are doin' just fine without me… better than fine."

            "But I don't want to do it without you… I don't know where you went, or what… what to do…"

            "Yeah you do, Will. You don't need me. An' me… I'm fine. I'm happy... in a weird way… I can just feel that you're all ok, an' I know you'll _be_ ok… don't mourn for me. Don't feel sorry for me. Your strength is in you, not in me." She looked into the face of the sad teen, and reached out again, placing her hand over Willow's heart. She shook her head, "Don't let this go cold for me. You're a great person Will, all on your own, and you are capable of some _amazing_ things…" She smiled, "Trust me. By all means fight… but do it for the people you are saving, like you've convinced everyone else that you _do_. Don't do it for me. I'm gone, and really, that's ok."

            "You're not lonely?"

            "Na. I can feel all you guys around me."

            "You're really ok?"

            "I'm fine."

            "I love you- you know that? You were the best friend ever."

            "I love ya too, Will, but Xander is your best friend, always was and always will be. Don't dwell on what isn't there any more." Buffy stood up, shadow closing on her face once more.

            "You're going?"

            "I'm already gone."

Willow woke up with a start, looking around desperately. The balcony window was open, a breeze playing with the curtains. Willow climbed out of bed and went to the balcony, looking out over the town. She sighed, feeling terribly alone but warm and loved at the same time…

            "She's gone." She murmured to herself, "Buffy's really gone."

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Hope that's ok with you, thanks for reading,

-Sam


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